A Hyatt hotel that has garnered some infamy in the games it plays making rooms available using points. But the Andaz Maui truly has a lot going for it that made us feel welcome coming here.

This stay occurred in January 2024.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Ringing in the New Year in Maui
• Review: Grand Wailea
• Dining at Grand Wailea
• Plenty of Aloha: Review of the Andaz Maui at Wailea (this post)
• Andaz Maui Dining Options
• Having Fun on Maui with Kids

Booking

I knew there would likely be competition for award rooms here given we were coming here at a popular time. I originally booked this room roughly a year in advance back in January 2023 and was able to confirm into a suite using a suite upgrade award at the same time.

The Andaz Maui is a Category 8 hotel and it was coded as high season, so we paid 45,000 Hyatt points per night for our three nights here. It was painful giving up that many points, but much more reasonable than the ~$1500 in cash price for a base room (let alone another $500 they wanted for the base suite).

Warning — Andaz Maui Plays Games

The Andaz Maui has been known to play games with award nights and still appears to do it as of this writing. If you search for award nights for your preferred number of nights, it might not show as available. The trick is to search for just three nights as a time if you want to stay in a standard room using points. As an example, as of this writing, I am finding the following:

• A one-night reservation starting December 10, 2024 is not available
• A two-night reservation starting December 10, 2024 is not available
• A three-night reservation starting December 10, 2024 is available
• A three-night reservation starting December 13, 2024 is available
• A four-night reservation starting December 10, 2024 is not available
• A six-night reservation starting December 10, 2024 is not available

If you wanted to stay here on points, search for and book rooms three nights at a time. You could then contact Hyatt customer service to shorten the reservation to the number of nights you actually need. It’s unfortunate that this hotel plays games like this. That can also make it challenging to use awards like suite upgrades or guest of honor certificates for the entirety of your stay if you are here longer than three nights (using certificates for one reservation of back-to-back reservations is typically a no-no for Hyatt).

Earning Hyatt Points

An excellent option for earning Hyatt points is the Chase Ink Preferred. Currently, my refer-a-friend link offers a massive 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points that can be transferred into Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio for spending $8,000 in the first three months. Note this is a business credit card, but you may be eligible for your side gig and not even know it.

The personal Hyatt credit card (not a referral link) is also a good option for earning Category 1-4 free night awards. But the current sign-up bonus is lackluster (35k points for $3k spend, and then earn at 2x on everyday spend for the next $15k within the first six months). I’d advise waiting for a better offer.

Arrival and First Impressions

We pulled into the valet turnaround to find a friendly attendant who noticed we were just arriving and gave us each a lei to welcome us to the resort. It’s simple, but some luxury hotels don’t do it *cough* Grand Wailea *cough*.

We made our way down the pathway that reminded me of the torii gates in Kyoto to find the front desk and a beautiful lobby. I was greeted by an agent, and we spent more time just talking about life than the formalities of the check in process. He was perfectly pleasant, though we would later discover that he missed giving us a few things (such as water bottles and an activity sheet discussing what’s on offer here).

The front desk did proactively confirm that thanks to my Hyatt Globalist status, we get free breakfast for the family, resort fees are waived (as they would be for anyone staying on points), and the $50 nightly parking fee is waived (for Globalists when staying on points). It’s benefits like these that make me loyal to Hyatt.

Just next to the front desk is a sand box where sometimes artistic workers make beautiful designs.

And the views from the lobby were simply gorgeous, giving an excellent view of the property.

The Room

We went down a couple of floors to our room for this stay (239). The room itself is located right next to the stairs, one floor above where one of the pools is located, making for an easy stroll to the action.

Inside, we saw plenty of space for our family. I was happy to see the room is a true suite, with a separate living area from the bedroom. While we didn’t spend too much time indoors, it was nice being able to stretch out.

There’s also an abundance of natural lighting, making the room very inviting.

If another bed is needed, the couch hides a sleeper mattress. That’s probably a good option if your kids are bigger (or you and your spouse need a break from each other). No, we didn’t use it.

The living area also has a TV with a comfortable chair for lounging. The TV does somewhat come out of the wall if you want to watch from the couch, but it’s not all that great as some of the left side of the TV gets cut off when you try it.

The room has a true desk if you need to do work. Note the sun shade controls are found in the table.

Next to the front door is a half bath, useful if the kids kick you out of the main bathroom. The decorations are a tad minimalist but tasteful.

Inside the bedroom, a large king bed awaited us. Sadly, the bed wasn’t quite as comfortable as it appeared, in part because the pillows are lacking. On top of that, it was quite easy to hear a pipe dripping in the middle of the night. It was simple enough to use a white noise app to drown out the sound, but it was a tad disappointing the sleep here wasn’t without issues.

If you’re looking for storage for your clothes, at first we only noticed the dresser immediately next to the bed. It wasn’t until later that we stumbled upon the drawers under the bed itself. Take care when opening those drawers especially as it was easy to smash our feet on them.

The bedroom has an identical TV setup as what’s out in the living room, making it easy for the kids to get their own personal TVs.

The main bathroom is gorgeous and modern. In the center is a large soaking tub, which the kids enjoyed at the end of the day. Right behind it is a functional shower with water so hot it could act like a steam room.

In the back of the shower is a rack holding a couple of towels and toiletries. I have to say the positioning of the towels doesn’t make much sense. When you use the toiletries in the shower, water drips off your hands and all over the towels underneath. The setup makes me think the person who designed the rack never bothered testing it out to see if it works.

Toiletries are by the Andaz spa at the hotel. Personally I preferred the toiletries at the Grand Wailea a little bit more, but these were fine.

A caution for some people. Andaz hotels tend to have a bit of exhibitionist flair to their showers and here isn’t any different. If you use the shower, others in the bedroom could look in at you. The ability to shield yourself is purely dependent on those in that bedroom. You might be stressed if you don’t trust them or you can just stick to using the soaking tub.

Also provided in the room was some toothbrushes and mouthwash.

And while the kids enjoyed checking the scale, I imagine it might not be a popular thing to do while at a resort. Not pictured is the Toto toilet, in case you like your bidets or your toilet seat warmed up before you arrive to do your business.

Both the living room and bedroom had their own lanais. We ended up not spending too much time here, but don’t expect much privacy. Everyone at the pool could easily see you. On the plus side, there are nice views of the ocean from here without needing to crane your neck. Just note it is hard to see the ocean from inside the room, so if that matters to you, this might not be the best room for you.

Andaz hotels generally allow guests to raid the minibar (non-alcoholic options only) and this one has a small selection of items available. There are two bags of chips, two cookies, and two sodas, replenished daily.

Also awaiting us in the room was a small welcome amenity. These days, it feels less common for hotels to give a welcome amenity so the gesture is appreciated. It had some furikake-flavored chips, a bag of cookies, some nuts, and the same bag of chips from the minibar. There was also a (generic) card thanking me for my Globalist status.

Pools

There are some good and bad parts with the pools here. Let’s start with the bad. For one, they don’t have any water slides, which was a slight disappointment for the kids and really only stemmed from directly coming from a resort that had lots of them. But the thing that bothered me the most was the pool rules here. The rules are posted by the towels and while they do actively monitor the pool area (far better than the Grand Wailea), the rules seem to encourage a specific type of behavior from guests here. I noticed quite a few people coming out to reserve their chairs in the early morning, then they would disappear to a leisurely breakfast, then come back to hang out by their chairs for a while before disappearing somewhere else. As long as someone comes by to hang out by the chairs for a bit every hour, they could keep the chairs all day. I would prefer the chairs only be allowed for people actively at the pool. As a result, it can be hard to find a seat here if you don’t get here by mid-morning. Sometimes that posed a challenge for us, as we preferred to be at the beach in the morning and I didn’t want to save chairs for us by the pool in much the same way others seemed to do it.

On the plus side, the pools themselves are pretty good. This is especially true for the lowest pool, which is perfect for families with younger children. The pool is zero-entry and has a large area where the water is not deeper than a foot. Seven-year-old Alex can walk most places here while four-year-old Charlotte can handle nearly half the pool on her own. The water here is also kept warmer than the other pools.

There are other pools here and many are family-friendly, but they were a little deeper and colder so we tended to stay at the bottom pool.

Activities

There are a variety of free and paid activities found here at the resort and it’s important to sign up before spots fill up. I didn’t realize this before showing up and the website I found where the resort fee is described doesn’t allow for booking. The front desk clarified it’s actually a different website where reservations allowed. Since we didn’t reserve in advance, we weren’t able to do everything we wanted but we still participated in a couple of activities.

We signed the kids up for ukulele lessons (free) with a very friendly and patient instructor. These were group lessons and they do have small ukuleles available, so they do enjoy teaching children too. Alex and Char had a blast and wanted to continue playing even after getting home from this trip (it’s a good thing we already have ukuleles at home).

As part of the resort fee, you can get a “free” photo session. The act of being photographed is free but of course the pictures are not. I thought the photographers here are nice and good with children. While you’re looking at pictures during the follow-up session, they do have coloring books to entertain the kids, a nice touch.

The only other guided activity we were able to sign up for was a 7am outrigger excursion. We checked in with the beach desk. There were no age requirements listed on the website but there was no problem bringing young children along (Char sat in Jenn’s lap). Your feet might get wet from the waves as you help push it into the water.

Once on the ocean, we saw half a dozen turtles. Usually turtle activity tends not to be that high at 7am according to the guide, but we got lucky.

For those who want to go snorkeling in a good spot, I’ve heard the best spot is by the cliffs near the Shops at Wailea. But it’s going to require some swimming to get here as there’s no easy access to the water from here.

Unlike the Grand Wailea, the Andaz has snorkel gear and boogie boards available for free, included with the resort fee. There is some coral and fish in the beach immediately by the Andaz, so I highly recommend taking advantage of this while you’re here. There is a time limit on the gear you borrow here, so don’t expect to bring it with you around the island.

Odds and Ends

On the last full day on Maui, I sent Jenn off to the spa. She was also able to use the spa facilities before and after her treatment. This included using the dry and wet saunas and the hot tub. As for the treatment itself, she thought it was good and she was plenty relaxed when she met back up with me and the kids at the pool afterwards (mission accomplished).

Near the spa is the fitness center, which was on the larger side. That’s definitely a plus given the size of the resort.

They also have a house car able to drive you around within a short radius of the resort. It’s useful if you have dining reservations in the Wailea area or you need to go to the nearby shops. We didn’t use it, but it would be handy if you didn’t rent a car.

Recommendation: Yes

Let’s get this out of the way first: the hotel is expensive, both on points and with cash. There are cheaper ways to stay on the island. Plus, the hotel plays games with those looking to use Hyatt points to stay here–they would much rather have people pay cash. But once you get past that, you’ll find a hotel that hits all the right notes on what makes a Hawaiian vacation excellent. There is enough to entertain the kids while being perfectly enjoyable for the parents.

I’m not sure when is the next time we will visit Maui, but we would definitely consider coming back here.

In the next installment, we will take a look at the dining options available at the Andaz Maui.